Windows 7 - How do I print from my laptop to my main computer's printer

Asked By Campli on 19-Mar-07 12:21 PM

Ok, I know you've probably seen this question many times but I seem to have
something quirky going on. I have a main computer in my home office...not
networked. It gets to the web via a linksys modem in which my laptop or any
other wireless computer near the modem can get to the internet. What I'm
trying to do is to share my main printer so my wireless laptop may print to
it. I've set up the printer as a shared printer with the name of EPSONSty.
I've gone to the laptop and tried to locate the printer and it's not showing
up...I must be missing something here. Please help.

Lem replied on 19-Mar-07 01:26 PM

I suspect that your "linksys modem" actually is a Linksys wireless
router, and that you are, in fact, "networked." You apparently haven't
secured your wireless network ("any other wireless computer near the
modem can get to the internet") which is something you ought to take
care of soon, but for your current issue, see MVP Malke's standard
networking advice (you can stop after the first paragraph if you don't
care about sharing files):
Run the Network Setup Wizard (NOT the Wireless Network Wizard) on both
computers, making sure to enable File & Printer Sharing, and reboot. The
only "gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If
you aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus with
firewall, then you're fine. If you have third-party firewall software,
configure it to allow the Local Area Network traffic as trusted. I
usually do this with my firewalls with an IP range. Ex. would be
192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct
subnet.
If one or more of the computers is XP Pro:
a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.
b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.
Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters
in your situation.
Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder.
--
Lem MS MVP -- Networking
To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

Byt replied on 19-Mar-07 02:40 PM

Follow the simple steps below. The Host PC is the one the printer is
connected to. The guest is usually the laptop. Yours may be different.
Install the printer on the Host PC. Then using Control Panel | Network
enable File & Printer Sharing and make sure you check the box to allow
others to print to your printers. Next under Start | Settings | Printers,
select the printer, check the box to share the printer and assign a name.
Keep the name short and do not include any blanks, like Printer2.
You should now be able to add the printer to your Guest PCs using Start |
Settings | Printers & Faxes | Add Printer. Check the radio button "A
network printer ..." and then either browse for the printer or enter its
name (using \\PCName\PrinterName) and continue until finished. Ensure
that the firewall on your XP PC is set to allow access to remote printers.
If using XP's native firewall ensure that File and Printer Sharing is
enabled and that the box with he same name is checked in the Firewall
exceptions list. The PCName can be found at:
Start>ControlPanel>System>Computer Name tab. It may look something
like: "Home-66djksjcpv". Don't type the quotes.
Click "Next" and it should install the printer on the Guest PC when
it finds it.
Note: You can follow the same procedure to get access to
--
XP - WNP
Today is the first day of the
rest of your life.
If you find this response helpful,
rate it below.

Campli replied on 19-Mar-07 03:26 PM

What happens if when you're on the guest pc and you've done everything about
sharing on the host pc (didn't reboot) and you go to enter the add printer, a
network printer..., and you enter the pcname\printer name and the guest pc
doesn't find the printer...states unable to connect...is name spelled wrong,
etc? Is this happening because I didn't reboot the host computer? It would
make sense.
I am using Windows XP Home Edition. I'm also using Norton Everything! I do
not have the network secured at this time until I get this set up and that's
next on my agenda!
I'm going to try to do this all over again and reboot both computers to
accept the settings and see what happens. :-) Thanks so much for working
with me on this...I'm pretty much illiterate when it comes to networking
administration!

Campli replied on 19-Mar-07 07:20 PM

Hi...it worked!!!! I was able to print...wonderful...now I need to share
this with some other relatives as they were also asking about how to do this!
Thanks so much for helping me!!!

Daniel Stokes replied on 16-Nov-08 11:49 AM

How do I print from my laptop to my main computer's printer - Campli
19-Mar-07 12:21:30
Ok, I know you've probably seen this question many times but I seem to have
something quirky going on. I have a main computer in my home office...not
networked. It gets to the web via a linksys modem in which my laptop or any
other wireless computer near the modem can get to the internet. What I'm
trying to do is to share my main printer so my wireless laptop may print to
it. I've set up the printer as a shared printer with the name of EPSONSty.
I've gone to the laptop and tried to locate the printer and it's not showing
up...I must be missing something here. Please help.

Daniel Stokes replied on 16-Nov-08 11:49 AM

How do I print from my laptop to my main computer's printer - Campli
19-Mar-07 12:21:30
Ok, I know you've probably seen this question many times but I seem to have
something quirky going on. I have a main computer in my home office...not
networked. It gets to the web via a linksys modem in which my laptop or any
other wireless computer near the modem can get to the internet. What I'm
trying to do is to share my main printer so my wireless laptop may print to
it. I've set up the printer as a shared printer with the name of EPSONSty.
I've gone to the laptop and tried to locate the printer and it's not showing
up...I must be missing something here. Please help.

Daniel Stokes replied on 16-Nov-08 11:49 AM

How do I print from my laptop to my main computer's printer - Campli
19-Mar-07 12:21:30
Ok, I know you've probably seen this question many times but I seem to have
something quirky going on. I have a main computer in my home office...not
networked. It gets to the web via a linksys modem in which my laptop or any
other wireless computer near the modem can get to the internet. What I'm
trying to do is to share my main printer so my wireless laptop may print to
it. I've set up the printer as a shared printer with the name of EPSONSty.
I've gone to the laptop and tried to locate the printer and it's not showing
up...I must be missing something here. Please help.

Richard in AZ replied on 16-Nov-08 01:47 PM

Asking the same question 3 times does not get you a faster answer.
You have set up a home network to share the printer.
You must have all of the computers in the same "workgroup".
You must have printer and file sharing set up on all of the computers.
As you found out, you can have multiple computers access the Internet without being set up as home
network.
Do a Google on 'home network tutorials'